“USA!!! USA!!!” they chanted at us to drown out our own chants of “DREAM ACT AND FULL EQUALITY!” The gay priest was at the front of our little group, and a balding man with a red face and sunglasses got within a few inches of his face to scream. Balding Guy, a member of Gay Priest’s former congregation, grabbed the priest and pushed him back violently. The next thing I knew, a man in a cowboy hat and large, crooked, cigarette-stained teeth that he was baring bulled his way into our priest. Erika was behind him, and took a misfired punch in the face as Cigarette Teeth barreled forward, cursing, swinging and pushing. A few people were sent back into me, and for a minute there he stood in front of me in the open. I wasn’t sure if I should take a swing or not to slow the guy down for my friends.

Political reporters go entire careers hoping for the opportunity to cover some world historical story, to be present at a moment history is truly being made. Even journalists who pour their careers into public events, who cover the leading stories all over the globe, can never have an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a story and be there as it grows to skyscraper proportions.

John Nichols is one of the fortunate few, and he chronicles the experience in Uprising: How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest, from Madison to Wall Street.

For so many weeks now we’ve been talking about the revolts, the people’s demonstrations – from Tunisia and Egypt to Bahrain, Iraq, Syria and Yemen as well as Libya. Much of the video footage we’ve had has been astonishing, raw rough images taken on cell phones and such, quickly uploaded and sent out to the world so we can witness – a demonstration, a brutal crackdown, a moment of victory. But in all of those videos – often taken at extreme risk to the creator – it’s often hard to really see the faces, the people who are turning the world upside down (or right side up perhaps?) They become the “protesters” or the “activists” or the “rebels” Even with their limitations they are so very important as they do bear witness.

Sarah’s videos do something else, something we can too easily miss. She brings us face to face with the individual people in those immense and wondrous crowds, she introduces us to their eyes and their voices, their children and their sorrow.

On the heels of massive public demonstrations in Wisconsin and Ohio after Republican governors over-played their hands in seeking to destroy collective bargaining for public employees and make punitive cuts to education, Florida may be next in line. Tuesday, March 8 has been designated the day to “Awake The State“, with over thirty demonstrations planned across the state, spanning from Key West to Pensacola. There will even be multiple demonstrations in Tallahassee and Miami.